Young alumna Schwartz leads
NCAA Division I in assists in final season
By Michael Wojtychiw
Few, if any, soccer players enter college thinking that at some point they'll sit atop a national statistical category.
If they play defender, the number is more likely near none.
But somehow, 2016 Whitney Young graduate pulled off the feat for Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The Chicago native led all NCAA Division I women in assists from her defender position. Her total of 19 edged out BYU senior midfielder Mikayla Colohan, whose Cougars lost in the Division I championship to Florida State on Dec. 6.
Aiding her teammates suits Schwartz just fine.
"I would rather have an assist and a good game defensively than a goal any day," she said. "It's always been something that I pride myself on in terms of delivery on service and set pieces.
"This was definitely not something I had ever thought would be part of my college trajectory. I knew that I loved soccer, and I knew that my coach certainly thought I was good enough to be playing at that level. But you never really think 'Oh yeah, I'm going to come play D I soccer and have a stat that puts me number one in the country."
Early in the year, her assist total afforded family and friends a few laughs.
"My parents and I saw at the beginning of the season that I was leading the country," she said in an interview last week. "It was almost like a funny joke, 'Oh, ha ha. Let's post about how I'm the assist leader, three games in and then see what happens.'
"So the fact that we know we're now looking at it and we're deep into postseason and we're watching the last four teams play and I'm still at the number one spot, it was pretty surreal. And I don't know if I'll ever get over it.
"It's a really cool stat to have and something that I take a lot of pride in. But at the same time, if you're not winning games and your team isn't doing the things it needs to do, then it doesn't really feel that good. To be winning games and having that was a much better feeling than if we weren't even winning the games."
Schwartz's path to Milwaukee was unexpected. As a senior at Young, she wasn't really getting Division I offers. She was looking at Division II Wisconsin-Parkside, but admittedly she was leary that the Kenosha school could provide the environment she was accustomed to and preferred.
"When I was looking at schools and doing the recruiting process, I knew that I wanted to stay in a city," Schwartz said. "I grew up in Chicago and love Chicago with my whole heart. It was really important to me that I was in another similar type of city environment.
"When (coach) Troy (Fabiano) recruited me at Parkside, it didn't seem like it was gonna be such a great fit. I think we both knew that; but he then got the Milwaukee job. From that point it was 'I know you don't want to go to Parkside. How about you come play D I soccer at Milwaukee?' I was one of his first recruits.
"So that whole opportunity to just ... I'd been so settled on going to go play D II, to have the opportunity to play D I was pretty, pretty hard to pass up."
Fabiano, who recently took the job at Kentucky, scouted Schwartz when she was playing as a center midfielder at Young.
She culminated her prep career as a member of Chicagoland Soccer’s first all-state team. This is how Patrick McGavin described Schwartz:
“The Chicago Public League’s best player scored 24 goals and added 10 assists. Exhibited a rare and devastating combination of power, size and skill.”
Her goal total set a school record. She was first-team all-City three years and helped the Dolphins win the city tournament as a sophomore. Schwartz gained national attention as a 2015-16 National Soccer Coaches Association of America High School Scholar All-American.
But a change would be in order For Schwartz’s foray into the college game. She knew she fit best in the defensive third.
In her final season on the backline for Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she helped lead the Panthers to one of the most successful seasons in program history. The squad made the NCAA Tournament for the fourth-consecutive season, advanced to the second round for the second-consecutive year (fifth all-time) and tied the school record with 19 wins, including 14-straight.
The Panthers lost only twice, and went 11-0-0 in the Horizon League to win the conference regular-season and playoff titles. The defense posted 16 shutouts. The program has won the league title for the past four seasons.
Schwartz started all 21 games and played 1,724 minutes. She earned her second All-Horizon League First Team honor and was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-North Region First Team. Her 19 assists gave her the league lead for the third-straight season. She ended her career with 42 helpers, a Wisconsin- Milwaukee record.
"I've had quite like a pretty interesting ride, I'd say over the last six years," said Schwartz, who redshirted her second year at the school and play a fifth season due to the pandemic’s effect on the 2020 campaign.
Schwartz played 185 minutes in nine games with one start as a freshman.
"(That) for me was a crazy adjustment going from high school to that kind of environment.”
As a redshirt sophomore, Schwartz started all 18 games she played in (1,425 minutes), and her career began to heat up.
" I think that a lot of the success that I've had after those two years has been down to just digging in my heels and putting in some more work off the field to make sure that I was as fit as I possibly could be both mentally, physically and running-wise. I wanted to make sure that I was in a position where I could be in the starting 11 so that I could contribute offensively as much as possible."
For as successful as Schwartz has been on the field, she's been just as successful off of it. Already armed with a bachelor degrees in marketing and finance, she was also named one of 10 women's soccer finalists for the 2021 Senior CLASS Award.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community; classroom; character and competition.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. The finalists were chosen by a selection committee that chose from a list of 30 candidates announced earlier in the season.
"I felt really honored and grateful to be in that group that was in that first round, mostly because in my time here, yeah, I love soccer and athletics has always been super important to me, but that award encompasses the full student-athlete of being," she said. "You're proficient in your sport and excelling in your sport, but also having the dedication to excel academically and to be involved in your community.
"Those are all things that have always just been so important to me from high school, and I've carried it through now. To have the recognition for all those facets of my life was really an honor. To have it narrowed down to the top 10 in the country and to be among these girls who play at the top schools for soccer in the nation was even more of an amazing feeling."
Schwartz received second team honors for the award. Gabby Carle, of champion Florida State, was named the top pick in a vote of women’s soccer coaches, the national soccer media and fans. BYU’s Colohan was also on the first team.
Schwartz is currently a business administration graduate student at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she is also pursuing an additional degree in business analytics. She hopes to eventually work in entertainment or sports business.
As she’s gotten older, activism has been even more important to Schwartz.
Coming from an urban school, she saw what goes on in and around the city. She started getting involved during her days at Young and has continued throughout her time at Milwaukee.
"A lot of my upbringing in Chicago is a big part of who I am now and the things that I care about now," she said. "That's why coming into college, it was important to me that I was involved in things like Black Lives Matter. I was in a program called We Woke with a couple of my friends from the team and the whole point of that program was educating people within the school on social justice issues that were occurring in Milwaukee, which is one of the most segregated cities in the country.
"I had this passion coming into college just because I went to a high school in the middle of a city that was extremely diverse, and I was exposed to the injustices that exist, especially in these big urban cities. Coming into Milwaukee and knowing that it is pretty much a smaller version of Chicago, it was definitely important to me that I was able to be involved in those issues.
"Having all of that with me and then taking on all the experiences that I've had in college, I feel like I'm a more well-rounded person going into my adult and professional life than I would have been if I hadn't had all of these experiences."
NCAA Division I in assists in final season
By Michael Wojtychiw
Few, if any, soccer players enter college thinking that at some point they'll sit atop a national statistical category.
If they play defender, the number is more likely near none.
But somehow, 2016 Whitney Young graduate pulled off the feat for Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The Chicago native led all NCAA Division I women in assists from her defender position. Her total of 19 edged out BYU senior midfielder Mikayla Colohan, whose Cougars lost in the Division I championship to Florida State on Dec. 6.
Aiding her teammates suits Schwartz just fine.
"I would rather have an assist and a good game defensively than a goal any day," she said. "It's always been something that I pride myself on in terms of delivery on service and set pieces.
"This was definitely not something I had ever thought would be part of my college trajectory. I knew that I loved soccer, and I knew that my coach certainly thought I was good enough to be playing at that level. But you never really think 'Oh yeah, I'm going to come play D I soccer and have a stat that puts me number one in the country."
Early in the year, her assist total afforded family and friends a few laughs.
"My parents and I saw at the beginning of the season that I was leading the country," she said in an interview last week. "It was almost like a funny joke, 'Oh, ha ha. Let's post about how I'm the assist leader, three games in and then see what happens.'
"So the fact that we know we're now looking at it and we're deep into postseason and we're watching the last four teams play and I'm still at the number one spot, it was pretty surreal. And I don't know if I'll ever get over it.
"It's a really cool stat to have and something that I take a lot of pride in. But at the same time, if you're not winning games and your team isn't doing the things it needs to do, then it doesn't really feel that good. To be winning games and having that was a much better feeling than if we weren't even winning the games."
Schwartz's path to Milwaukee was unexpected. As a senior at Young, she wasn't really getting Division I offers. She was looking at Division II Wisconsin-Parkside, but admittedly she was leary that the Kenosha school could provide the environment she was accustomed to and preferred.
"When I was looking at schools and doing the recruiting process, I knew that I wanted to stay in a city," Schwartz said. "I grew up in Chicago and love Chicago with my whole heart. It was really important to me that I was in another similar type of city environment.
"When (coach) Troy (Fabiano) recruited me at Parkside, it didn't seem like it was gonna be such a great fit. I think we both knew that; but he then got the Milwaukee job. From that point it was 'I know you don't want to go to Parkside. How about you come play D I soccer at Milwaukee?' I was one of his first recruits.
"So that whole opportunity to just ... I'd been so settled on going to go play D II, to have the opportunity to play D I was pretty, pretty hard to pass up."
Fabiano, who recently took the job at Kentucky, scouted Schwartz when she was playing as a center midfielder at Young.
She culminated her prep career as a member of Chicagoland Soccer’s first all-state team. This is how Patrick McGavin described Schwartz:
“The Chicago Public League’s best player scored 24 goals and added 10 assists. Exhibited a rare and devastating combination of power, size and skill.”
Her goal total set a school record. She was first-team all-City three years and helped the Dolphins win the city tournament as a sophomore. Schwartz gained national attention as a 2015-16 National Soccer Coaches Association of America High School Scholar All-American.
But a change would be in order For Schwartz’s foray into the college game. She knew she fit best in the defensive third.
In her final season on the backline for Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she helped lead the Panthers to one of the most successful seasons in program history. The squad made the NCAA Tournament for the fourth-consecutive season, advanced to the second round for the second-consecutive year (fifth all-time) and tied the school record with 19 wins, including 14-straight.
The Panthers lost only twice, and went 11-0-0 in the Horizon League to win the conference regular-season and playoff titles. The defense posted 16 shutouts. The program has won the league title for the past four seasons.
Schwartz started all 21 games and played 1,724 minutes. She earned her second All-Horizon League First Team honor and was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-North Region First Team. Her 19 assists gave her the league lead for the third-straight season. She ended her career with 42 helpers, a Wisconsin- Milwaukee record.
"I've had quite like a pretty interesting ride, I'd say over the last six years," said Schwartz, who redshirted her second year at the school and play a fifth season due to the pandemic’s effect on the 2020 campaign.
Schwartz played 185 minutes in nine games with one start as a freshman.
"(That) for me was a crazy adjustment going from high school to that kind of environment.”
As a redshirt sophomore, Schwartz started all 18 games she played in (1,425 minutes), and her career began to heat up.
" I think that a lot of the success that I've had after those two years has been down to just digging in my heels and putting in some more work off the field to make sure that I was as fit as I possibly could be both mentally, physically and running-wise. I wanted to make sure that I was in a position where I could be in the starting 11 so that I could contribute offensively as much as possible."
For as successful as Schwartz has been on the field, she's been just as successful off of it. Already armed with a bachelor degrees in marketing and finance, she was also named one of 10 women's soccer finalists for the 2021 Senior CLASS Award.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community; classroom; character and competition.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. The finalists were chosen by a selection committee that chose from a list of 30 candidates announced earlier in the season.
"I felt really honored and grateful to be in that group that was in that first round, mostly because in my time here, yeah, I love soccer and athletics has always been super important to me, but that award encompasses the full student-athlete of being," she said. "You're proficient in your sport and excelling in your sport, but also having the dedication to excel academically and to be involved in your community.
"Those are all things that have always just been so important to me from high school, and I've carried it through now. To have the recognition for all those facets of my life was really an honor. To have it narrowed down to the top 10 in the country and to be among these girls who play at the top schools for soccer in the nation was even more of an amazing feeling."
Schwartz received second team honors for the award. Gabby Carle, of champion Florida State, was named the top pick in a vote of women’s soccer coaches, the national soccer media and fans. BYU’s Colohan was also on the first team.
Schwartz is currently a business administration graduate student at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she is also pursuing an additional degree in business analytics. She hopes to eventually work in entertainment or sports business.
As she’s gotten older, activism has been even more important to Schwartz.
Coming from an urban school, she saw what goes on in and around the city. She started getting involved during her days at Young and has continued throughout her time at Milwaukee.
"A lot of my upbringing in Chicago is a big part of who I am now and the things that I care about now," she said. "That's why coming into college, it was important to me that I was involved in things like Black Lives Matter. I was in a program called We Woke with a couple of my friends from the team and the whole point of that program was educating people within the school on social justice issues that were occurring in Milwaukee, which is one of the most segregated cities in the country.
"I had this passion coming into college just because I went to a high school in the middle of a city that was extremely diverse, and I was exposed to the injustices that exist, especially in these big urban cities. Coming into Milwaukee and knowing that it is pretty much a smaller version of Chicago, it was definitely important to me that I was able to be involved in those issues.
"Having all of that with me and then taking on all the experiences that I've had in college, I feel like I'm a more well-rounded person going into my adult and professional life than I would have been if I hadn't had all of these experiences."